Mental Health Issues and the University Student

3. Generational Issues on Campus

The psychiatry resident is frustrated. He’s treated Ellen, a 20-year-old Caucasian sophomore with depression, for the first three months of her spring semester. With antidepressant medication and therapy, Ellen has steadily improved, and she’s pulled up her grades in all but one class: organic chemistry . She considered dropping the class to avoid a blemish on her transcript but decided to forge ahead. Now, as finals approach, the resident has received several voice messages from Ellen’s father, increasingly concerned that if Ellen receives a bad grade it will affect her chances to get into medical school. Ellen would like to take the final exam but reserve the right to get a medical withdrawal if she does poorly. Her parents “don’t want her to be penalized for having been depressed” and are encouraging her to talk to her dean and “be proactive.” They’d also like to speak to the resident’s super­ visor to make sure “we’re exploring all options.” “Students today are so entitled,” the resident complains. “And I get now what they mean by helicopter parents. I mean, she was depressed, but now she’s not. Why would they think she should get special treatment? Maybe she just isn’t good at organic chemistry.” Chapter 3 Generational Issues on Campus 14  The Student in Context: The Interdependent Campus Over-involved parents? Entitled students? Frustrated faculty? Much of the developmental framework we are taught as psychiatrists focuses on the individual. But students enter the university community in cohorts , and understanding the historic forces and cultural events that shape specific generations enhances our ability to work with students, their families, and even our colleagues within the university community. The generational framework is based mostly on qualitative research, but there are a few quantitative studies as well. Although no generalizing descriptions will apply to every person, understanding generational groups is useful. Most students on campus today are part of the millennial generation, or Gen Y, while most faculty, including campus psychiatrists, belong to either the baby boomer generation or Gen X. Here’s a brief overview of the different generations and ways in which their group characteristics might play out when we’re working with students’ psychiatric concerns. The Millennial Generation (born 1981–2004) Also called “Generation Me,” the group comprising the majority of university students has been characterized as the most wanted group of children in history .1 The most extensive descriptions come from the work of Neil Howe and William Strauss, authors of Millennials Rising, Millennials Go to College, and other research on generational differences. Howe and Strauss summarized their findings in seven words that have since influenced many people working with young adults, from university administrators to marketing executives to bosses in the workforce. According to Howe and Strauss, this generation is “special, sheltered, confident, team-oriented, achieving, pressured and conventional .” It is also the largest generational cohort to date. Every milestone in their lives has been a source of celebration. They’ve been protected, coming of age in an era of unprecedented safety consciousness among parents: the time of car seats, bicycle helmet laws, and school lockdowns. They’re confident and goal oriented. Some studies have found higher rates of self-esteem, along with higher rates of narcissism, in this group. By the mid1990s , the average college man had higher self-esteem than 86% of college men in 1968, with similar differences among college women.2 This high self-esteem often leads to heightened expectations of themselves and of their institutions. Some studies suggest that an increase in narcissism leads students to believe they have a range of talents and abilities, making it harder to choose a career Generational Issues on Campus  15 or even a major in college. Howe and Strauss’s work, however, suggests that these kids have been on career tracks since elementary school. Millennials tend to be more group oriented, not wanting to stand out among their peers.3 They prefer egalitarian rather than hierarchical leadership. They are achievement oriented and often see college as a path to material success rather than a means of personal development. According to the 2011 American Freshman National Norms survey, getting a better job is the number one reason students cite for attending college these days.4 This focus is often accompanied by a sense of pressure to succeed. Because millennials have had such highly structured, supervised lives, they...